


Perfect Strangers

by justrae2010



Series: Phichuuri Week 2017 [5]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Childhood Friends AU, Glasses, M/M, Phichuuri Week, phichuuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-10 23:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11137044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justrae2010/pseuds/justrae2010
Summary: Yuuri’s lost his glasses and Phichit offers to help find them in the playground at school. Instead they found their friendship but now Yuuri doesn't know what his new friend looks like.Day 5 of Phichuuri WeekPrompt : Childhood Friends AU





	Perfect Strangers

The gravel scratched at Yuuri’s palms as he crawled along the playground by the school gate, knees already a bloody mess. He hoped his mother wouldn’t be mad at the blood on his socks. She would probably be more mad about the lost glasses though.

He sniffled at the thought, rubbing over his eyes with the black sleeve of his school jacket. It came back wet.

_ Stupid J.J, _ he thought with a quivering lip. The Canadian transfer student had barged past Yuuri in his rush to get home and hadn’t even bothered to look back when he’d knocked Yuuri to the ground in his haste. At least, Yuuri didn’t think he had. He hadn’t been able to see - his glasses had gone flying. He’d heard the crack of them hitting the floor though, sounding alarmingly sharp.

He’d been on his hands and knees for what felt like hours now, scouring the playground for any trace of his glasses. Even if the lens had shattered, if he could just salvage the frames...

_ Click. _

“What are you doing?”

Yuuri blinked up. A maroon coloured shadow hung over him, topped with a mop of jet black. Maroon... the colour of Fujioka Elementary’s uniform, the school just around the corner. 

And did the kid have a cell phone? Yuuri may not be able to see it but he had certainly heard it, recognising the familiar click from his sister’s iPhone. A frown nudged into his brow, his tears temporarily forgotten. “Did… did you take a picture of me?”

He couldn’t see. He really did have amazingly poor eyesight, the world little more than blurring mashes of colour beyond a few inches in front of his face. Even the kid standing over him was little more beyond his stark dark hair and distinct school jacket. Black trousers connected the maroon to the playground floor, and was his skin a little more tanned or was that just a glare of colour from the jacket?

The tops of the maroon outline jerked a little higher. “You look funny.”

Yuuri’s face crumpled on instinct.  _ Funny _ . As if J.J hadn’t been enough, now random strangers off the street were laughing at him...

He sat back on his heels, feeling grit bite into his kneecaps and his lip quiver traitorously. What clarity there might have been left in the world around him from his poor eyesight was quickly stolen in the blurring well of tears, one breaking free down his cheek with an embarrassingly loud hiccup.

“No, I’m sorry!” The boy said in a rush. “I didn’t mean it like that! I just wondered what you were doing...”

Yuuri sniffled back, feeling his glittering eyes go as round as dinner plates. “I, um, I lost my glasses.”

“What do they look like?”

“Um.” The question caught Yuuri off guard and he had to think for a moment. “Blue. I-I mean, they have blue frames and the lenses are quite big and square-ish.”

The figure in front of him moved and stepped into the playground with him, black head turning from side to side. He wouldn’t find anything, Yuuri thought to himself bitterly. He’d searched every inch of the ground around him already. They must have scattered off somewhere - maybe they’d gotten kicked out of place when the other kids had left too. The boy must have had the same idea as he disappeared further into the school yard away from Yuuri, distinct maroon fading into the whirl of distant colour from the bright jungle gym behind him. 

After a few minutes, he lost it entirely. “Hello?”

Footsteps crunched at the gravel and the maroon jacket reappeared from the jungle gym, getting larger with every step. “I’m still here! I’m just looking.”

“Um, it’s okay.” Yuuri twiddled his thumbs in his lap. “You don’t have to.”

The jacket was still moving across the playground though, covering new ground that Yuuri hadn’t crawled to yet. Yuuri followed the shift of colour avidly, not wanting to lose place of where the Fujioka student was in the schoolyard. 

The mop of jet black hair shifted in the air as he looked, head twisting around him in earnest searching. “I don’t mind,” he said without stopping. “I’m Phichit by the way. What’s your name?”

Yuuri just blinked. Stunned. “Yuuri. Yuuri Katsuki.” 

What was happening?

“I can’t see any glasses, Yuuri...”

Yuuri’s face dropped into his hands and he groaned - though it came out more like a whine. He scrunched his eyes shut against his palms, wondering just how he could break it to his mother that he lost his new glasses in a way that would make her the least mad. Maybe if he was able to find Mari first, she would be able to help cover him; help him figure out a plan before their mom found out what had happened. 

“Can you see much without them?”

Little Yuuri shook his head, overgrown black hair brushing over his eyes. Usually, his fringe would just bounce off the lens of his glasses… “No, I - I can’t see anything.”

“Can you get home?” The boy sounded closer.

Yuuri blinked up a fraction from his palms and more tears welled. He hadn’t thought about that. How was he going to get home? He might know the route well enough but what about when he got to road crossings, and the river bridge, and - and the train! He’d never be able to see the signs, know when it was safe to cross. It would be a hair-raising journey. His fingers trembled against the ground of the schoolyard just thinking about it.

“Where do you live?”

The Fujioka boy was back in front of him again, his shadow falling over Yuuri. Bright light burst behind his head of dark hair like a halo.

Yuuri’s mouth ran dry as the thought ran through his head. “Y-Yutopia. The onsen.”

“Oh, I know it!” The maroon jacket shifted and one black trouser leg crooked slightly more than the other. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

Yuuri wanted to say  _ yes _ , but - “But my glasses-”

“It’s getting dark, Yuuri,” Phichit interrupted firmly - but friendly still. “And I can’t see anything. Maybe we can check again tomorrow before school?”

For a moment, Yuuri’s mouth hovered open, waiting for words to  come to him and argue to stay. They never did though. They couldn’t - Phichit was right. Yuuri’s head hung as the thought sank in, realising the burst of light he’d seen behind Phichit’s head must be the sun falling in the sky, getting ready for sunset. It would be dark soon. Then he’d be in even more trouble. He closed his mouth and nodded shyly. His lower lip pouted with disappointment. 

Something moved in front of him and Yuuri’s jolted back in surprise. A tan coloured smudge stuck out in front of his face, connected to Phichit by a trail of maroon. Yuuri reached up with slightly trembling fingers. 

Phichit’s hand closed around his and pulled him too his feet, Yuuri crying out sharply at the stretch in the cuts over his knees. They knocked together painfully as he straightened up.

“Yuuri! You’re hurt!”

Yuuri bit his lip. It did hurt - more than he’d realised when he’d been crawling on the ground! Leaning on one leg, he stretched out the other a little in front of him, wincing at the sting that tremored through his knee. Something warm trickled slowly down his shin.

“I’ll carry you.”

The blur shifted in front of him into a more solid expanse of maroon. Yuuri blinked. Was Phichit expecting him to  _ climb on?  _ “Wait, what?”

“Here.”

Hands molded Yuuri’s arms over Phichit’s shoulders and Yuuri felt them dip as Phiciht crouched down, looping his fingers around the back of Yuuri’s knees. A squeak left him as he left the ground. His red face buried in the soft material of Phichit’s jacket, hoping the Fujioka Elementary student wouldn’t notice the whimper that left him as the skin around his knees stretched painfully. 

“That’s okay, right?”

Yuuri nodded into Phichit’s shoulder. 

Phichit started walking. 

It was only then Yuuri started to notice the change in the light, the coloured splashed around him just a fraction darker than he was used to. Phichit’s jacket looking more black than maroon the further away from the school they walked. Something orange glowed in the distance, dancing low over the town. 

Phichit walked at a steady pace. They didn’t cross anyone on the streets but Yuuri felt the rush of air and heard the cars drive past them on the alongside road, Phichit pausing at the traffic lights and Yuuri fumbling for the button to the crossing. All the while, Phichit’s hands kept a firm grip around the underside of Yuuri’s thighs, piggybacking him without a problem. Neither one of them said anything while they moved through the town and Yuuri guessed Phichit knew Hasetsu well enough to find the onsen since he hadn’t asked for any directions.

He didn’t recognise the name though.  _ Phichit.  _ It was very distinctly un-Japanese. Hasetsu was a small town and pretty much everybody knew everybody anyway, but someone like Phichit would stick out like a sore thumb. Yet Yuuri had never even heard of him. Weird.

The ring of the warning bell by the rail crossing rattled in Yuuri’s ears.

“Can you get my phone? It’s in my right pocket,” Phichit said as they waited, air whooshing in front of them from the train. 

Yuuri slipped his hand into Phichit’s pocket as requested, pulling out the slim phone. It felt the similar to  his sister’s. Still, he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Mari let him play on her phone every now and then but Yuuri didn’t have one for himself yet like most of the other kids at school did. Maybe when he got to Junior High and business picked up a little more at the onsen.

The phone felt alien in his hand, not sure what Phichit wanted him to do with it since both his hands were occupied with holding Yuuri off the ground. 

“Can you take a picture? I want to be able to show my parents my first friend in Hasetsu. Swipe it to the left.”

Yuuri did, but couldn’t see if it worked or not. He assumed it had when Phichit didn’t correct him though, reaching his arm out in front of them.

“Just click the button. You’re gonna smile, right?”

Yuuri didn’t have a choice; he was the blind one, not Phichit. Phichit would be able to see in the camera if Yuuri was still frowning. He felt the Fujioka student shift, tilting his head to fit in the camera frame as Yuuri’s thumb hovered over the slightly indented round button at the base. He forced his stiff cheeks into a smile and clicked.

The rest of him probably looked a mess. His eyes were itchy and probably red from crying, squinting along the length of his arm as far as he could see. He could feel how hot his face was, just imagining the pink glowing of his cheeks. That photo was going to be laughed at later no doubt, Phichit’s family all giggling around the dinner table at the little blind Japanese boy their son had spent the afternoon rescuing. 

He slipped the phone back in Phichit’s pocket quickly, burying his face into his  _ friend’s  _ shoulder as the whistling of the train faded. The warning alarm quietened and Phichit stepped forward.

It wasn’t far now, Yuuri knew. He could feel Phichit’s arms starting to tremble a little, even if he didn’t say anything. The thought just made Yuuri’s cheeks burn hotter; he knew he was a little chubbier than he ought to be, promising himself he’d spend more time skating at the Ice Castle with Yuuko to lighten himself up. Takeshi always called him fatso too…

“There’s an ice rink around here?” 

Yuuri froze, heart stopping - had he said all that out loud?

“If you skate, you must know who Victor is right? Victor Nikiforov?”

Yuuri’s throat suddenly ran dry at the question; he didn’t just know Victor after all - he  _ adored  _ him. He couldn’t say that though… could he? How big a fan was Phichit? “Um, yeah.” he settled on vaguely after a moment’s pause. “I named my dog after him.”

He wasn’t sure if it was weird to admit that or not and held his breath as he felt Phichit’s head turn a fraction, his black hair tickling Yuuri’s nose. “Really?” Yuuri could hear the smile in the Fujioka boy’s voice. “That’s so cool! Is he at the onsen? I’d love to meet him. I don’t have a dog, but I’ve got hamsters. Three. They’re named after skaters too - Kristi, Stephane and Johnny.”

_ Kristi Yamaguchi, Stephane Lambiel and Johnny Weir _ , Yuuri pieced together in his head. Phichit must be a pretty big skating fan too.

Yuuri didn’t know what to say.

“Is that Victor?”

A dog barked softly ahead of them and Yuuri lifted his head. He knew that bark…wetness suddenly lapped around Yuuri’s knee caps and he sucked in a sharp gasp as Victor’s hot tongue licked at his wounds, batting him gently away with a fluttering hand. As much as he loved the dog, it stung too much. His teeth bit down on his lip, biting back the tears welling in his eyes.

It wasn’t enough to hold back the whimper when Phichit carefully set him down though, wounded skin rearranging itself around his bleeding knees. An arm wrapped around his shoulders and helped him hobble forward to the door.

Through the doorway, the pale brown of the wood of the onsens interior suddenly filled with blocks of colour - colours Yuuri recognised as his mother’s clothes.

“Yuuri!”  _ Yep, definitely his mother. _ “Oh, I’m so glad you’re home. I was getting worried.”

Yuuri just hung his head. She didn’t sound angry. He was sure that would change when he told her what had happened. Shame lifted the hairs on the back of his neck and sent a chill shuddering down the back of his spine, fists clenching nervously at his sides. “I’m sorry,  _ okaa-san _ .” he swallowed hard, a lump lodging itself uncomfortably in his throat. “I … Iost my glasses. I’m sorry.” 

He dug a thumbnail into the side of his finger, focussing on the pain there and in his knees as he waited for the yelling to start. His family wasn’t exactly the most well off in the town after all and glasses weren’t exactly cheap - especially with his prescription.  

He should have taken better care of them, even if it was J.J’s fault that he’d gotten knocked over. 

A small warm hand closed around his, fingers slipping his thumb away from where he was engraving his nail print. 

“Don’t worry, Yuuri.” Phichit said softly. His hand was warm, squeezing Yuuri’s fingers comfortingly. “They must be back at the school somewhere. I’ll come by tomorrow so we can look for them before class, okay? We’ll find them.”

Heat bloomed over Yuuri’s cheeks and he felt his head duck even lower in embarrassment. Phichit was holding his hand - and offering to help him! Nobody ever did that…

“How sweet!” Yuuri couldn’t see his mother clap her hands to her cheeks but he could very much image it. “And you helped Yuuri home too?”

The fingers around Yuuri’s tightened. “It was no trouble.” Yuuri could hear the beam in Phichit’s voice, knowing he meant every word. He could tell. “I should get home though - before my mom sends out a search party. New town, and everything…”

So Phichit  _ was  _ new to Hasetsu, Yuuri nodded inside his head. No wonder he hadn’t heard of him before now, why Phichit had referred to him as his ‘first friend in Hasetsu’.

His hand suddenly went empty. 

Yuuri turned instantly, searching for Phichit but the maroon shadow of Phichit’s Fujioka jacket was already backing away down the path from the onsen when he found it, shoes clicking on the pavement as the blur got smaller and smaller. A small slither of it moved. Was Phichit  _ waving _ ? It looked like he could be…

“See you tomorrow, Yuuri!”

Yuuri stuck his arm in the air too, just in case. “Bye!”

Out of nowhere, he was suddenly beaming. He’d made a friend. How had he made a friend? He couldn’t even make friends when he was trying! Yet somehow he’d managed to find one when he was crawling on the school playground, covered in blood, blind and crying. It was bizarre, and crazy, and … honest. Phichit had honestly helped him for no reason. Honestly chatted to him like the easiest thing in the world.

Yuuri was bubbling, brimming with happiness that he hadn’t felt since his sister had given him a signed poster of Victor Nikiforov for his birthday last year. He couldn’t wait to tell his mother about his new friend - couldn’t wait to tell everybody!

If only he knew what Phichit looked like...

A gentle hand smoothed over Yuuri’s shoulder, guiding him back inside when the last lingering flash of maroon disappeared into the darkness. “Let’s get you inside and clean up those knees, hm?”

His mother’s voice was still soft and gentle - not at all the anger he’d thought he’d hear when he got home. He really was lucky, he thought. He had the best family. And now the best friend too! He couldn’t wait to see Phichit’s face when they found his glasses tomorrow. Maybe they could take another picture together when Yuuri could actually  _ see _ the camera.

The excitement shrank away though as Yuuri took notice of his mother’s words. Suddenly, he remembered his knees. In seconds, it all came crashing back. Stinging pain shot through his system and his lip started to quiver as he remembered how much it was hurting, tears spilling over and down his cheeks. His mother’s warm arms wrapped around him and lifted him up, cradling him close while he cried and cooing sweet, soothing whispers in his ears about his kind new friend. 

**Author's Note:**

> Keep tabs on works @ https://justrae2010.tumblr.com/
> 
> Please drop a comment before you go !
> 
> This story idea was given to me by my friend Nisha. Please check out her tumblr too @ https://minisnowsworld.tumblr.com/


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